Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, baker's man.
Bake me a cake as fast as you can.
Pat it and prick it and mark it with a "B"
And put it in the oven for Baby and me.
—Traditional rhyme
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The children in the classroom expressed an intense interest in cooking and were anxious to do more. A present of a toaster oven focused the investigation to baking and ovens. |
"What are we going to make next?" Erin asked. It was a frequent question in this classroom of three- to five-year-olds. When the teacher of a preschool class mixed up a recipe, all the children were eager to help. They buzzed energetically about foods they liked, compared various types of food, and offered their opinions easily.
The lead teacher, assistant teacher, and student teacher noticed the children's interests in cooking through the questions they asked, their conversations as they played, and parents' reports about their children's enthusiasm for cooking at home. By observing the children and documenting their interests with photography and anecdotal notes, the teachers saw that there was a potential project in the topic of cooking.
At first, the lead teacher used dialogic reading strategies (which encourage children to become actively engaged in the story) while reading Enemy Pie. Afterward, the children made a no-bake "slime" pie. Adding ingredients and stirring and mixing to change texture, color, and taste captured the preschooler's interest in preparing food. When the education coordinator visited the classroom, the children invited her to be the first in a taste test. Erin remarked, "We want to see what her face looks like when she tastes the slime!" Riley added with glee, "And the worms!"
Then the student teacher assigned to the Early Literacy Initiative Program bought a marvelous gift for the classroom. After the children made predictions about the gift, it was opened and placed in a special area for the children to observe. When the student teacher explained that it was a toaster oven, the children were amazed; many didn't believe her. Violet exclaimed, "That's not an oven!" Ryan seconded, "It doesn't even look like an oven." Jake added suspiciously, "That oven is different from the one at home." The adults in the room soon realized that the project topic had expanded to include an investigation of the oven.
The baking project was packed with exciting, confidence-building activities. The children played pretend cooking and baking and then moved on to actual baking with the toaster oven. The class read books about cooking and baking, compared cookies and muffins, decorated cookies, and created a chart of oven parts. The children attended a play and then retold the story their own way. They made field-site visits to a Kroger's, a bakery, and a pizza place. To complete their project, the preschoolers constructed their own oven. At the final event, the children shared their newfound knowledge of baking and ovens and narrated documentation of their work.
The baking project was laden with opportunities to complete the Ohio Early Learning Content Standards in English language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies. The preschoolers' activities naturally flowed from their interest in cooking. They fulfilled literacy requirements by reading books and representing their experiences through play. They created webs and lists that showed them the importance of writing. Mathematical standards were addressed by measuring ingredients. The topic of baking provided great opportunity for scientific content, including chemical changes that take place when mixing and baking. The children used critical thinking and problem solving to build their play oven.
Cooking and baking in the classroom are also highly integrative with the Creative Curriculum goals in the physical, social-emotional, and cognitive domains, as well as with the Head Start Learning Outcomes.